Geothermal power boost for East Africa

December 10, 2008

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By , NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 10 – Pilot drilling using new technology has revealed awesome potential for geothermal power in East Africa\’s Great Rift Valley.

Engineers using new seismic tools to locate hotspots hit powerful veins of steam, warmed by heat from Earth\’s core, near the Kenyan capital Nairobi, according to the UN Environment Programme and the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

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Several wells have been identified, most of them generating four to five megawatts of electricity, while one has a "bumper" capacity of eight megawatts, they said.